malaysiakini - "It's the Economy, STUPID!"

Just take a look at the graphics and you will understand why the "feel good" factor is missing from the lives of most Malaysians.

You do not need to be an economist to know that probably 75%of Malaysians are struggling to cope with the escalating food and transport costs which will never go down with slight fuel price reductions.

According to the malaysiakini article FDI outflow at record high the country actually had a negative FDI in 2007 of about RM9b. If you look at the graphics FDI inflow grew by about 50% but FDI outflow almost doubled.

It appears that apart from the government increasing the pay of civil servants and pensioners, there is little capacity building to encourage even local investors to keep their monies invested locally.

In the UK, Gordon Brown has been given some sort of reprieve as most believe his expertise is needed during the current financial crisis but in Malaysia, the PM has decided to give up this important function. If the DPM was more capable in Finance, he should have been put there from day1.

One gets the impression that perhaps more people are carrying bags full of money overseas.